Fall Has Fallen
   Here in the Pacific Northwest, the change of seasons is in full swing.  The furnace is coming on early every morning, and darkness arrives earlier and earlier each week.  Leaves began turning color not long ago, and now are drifting off the trees as they dry out.
                                                 

   This photograph was taken on a Vancouver, BC street in 2012, not far from the waterfront.  Amid the glass-fronted buildings, this maple tree in full fall hue was a great example of what inspires the main design feature on Canada's national flag. 
   I'd like to head back north of the border again, but that will be another year.  I've got dozens of fleece blankets to sew for the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and a baby grandson [born this past June] to watch over for several months when his mom returns to her teaching post at the end of October. 
   South Dakota has transitioned from screaming heat and flooding to nearly-freezing temperatures at night.  Folks without adequate sources of heat are in need of blankets and other warm clothing.  I am warm and clothed and in a position to help.  Time to create more blankets!

Back In The Stitching Saddle

   After a hiatus of some months, I have "fired up" my APQS longarm quilting machine [Lenni] and am quilting again.  I cut out and began piecing this 'log cabin' pattern over twenty years ago, and decided last month that I needed to complete the top and make a backing for it. 
 
This particular pattern requires piecing the blocks [made of strips cut into appropriate sizes] with some accuracy, so the pattern lies straight and even from one block to the next.  In other words, it takes some concentration - and I have to really focus on keeping pieces even and equal.  I can assure you that even with this "easy" pattern, I spent a fair amount of time 'unsewing' here and there, to ensure an accurate design structure.

    The 'log cabin' design pictured above was first discovered centuries ago on mummy wrappings in ancient Egyptian tombs.  After making its way through European countries and then onto the New World, it's safe to say that this has been a design originating in the mists of time!
   
My Lenni has performed like a champ - after a bit of cleaning and oiling, and a few minutes adjusting the thread tension, my quilting machine was off to the races with nary a hiccup!  I can highly recommend the APQS company in Carroll, IA.  Their products are amazing and their customer service all around seems above reproach.  My sales representative, Barbara Mayfield, of APQS Northwest in Issaquah, WA is absolutely wonderful.  Hopefully someone reading this blog feels welcomed to contact her with any questions and maybe even stop into her store to try her longarm quilting machines on for size.
 
Time for another ride. 
   

                                                             
As The World Spins 

Last week I woke up with vertigo.  What a bad morning.

 
  Not recommended.  But survivable.  I've slowly come out of my spinning world, resuming what I can only hope will be a 'normal' life once more.  I learned again [I've experienced vertigo once before, about 14 years ago] that I would fail at being an astronaut without gravity, and my childhood dreams of space flights to distant planets belonged to a different someone who does well with being totally unbalanced.

  Now that my world is 'righting' itself, I've been able to return to my current retirement vocation:  creating fleece blankets and quilts for folks who live on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  While we've experienced more snow and cold during February than we normally do in the Pacific Northwest, in no way has it been the bone-chilling, non-stop biting blasting cold of the prairies of Pine Ridge in South Dakota.  January, February, March, even April - it's just plain freezing cold there. Below zero cold, and some of those incredible people aren't prepared for it.  The fleece blankets will hopefully continue to travel from my apartment home eastward across half of our country, thanks to the US Postal Service, now that I've resumed sewing and can safely drive to the post office to send them away.

 Once again, my mornings are good, and I'm grateful to be grounded again - and balanced [at least for the time being].
                                                                                       

The Gift Is In The Giving

Giving It Away!    

   There are so many 'sayings' that describe the act of making something to be donated.  One of my favorites is "To Give Is Better Than To Receive."  The king-size quilt top in the photo above was completed in August of 2018 after piecing on my Bernina sewing machine and then quilting on my new APQS Lenni longarm machine.  It was donated to Vision House, headquartered in Renton, WA - and became the raffle item for their annual fall fund-raising luncheon in order to raise funds to help homeless families in dire situations.  The woman who 'won' my quilt in a drawing was thrilled to receive it, which makes me even happier than the fact it raised over $850 for Vision House!
   Since my previous blog post, I have made literally dozens of quilts as well as knitted blankets.  The quilts have been donated to Vision House and Quilts Beyond Borders, to be sent wherever needed around the world [including refugee camps in Jordan, the new "home" for many Syrian refugees].  The knitted blankets have been given to Eastside Baby Corner in Issaquah, WA - supporting families in need.
   My most recent sewing-for-donation focus is fleece double blankets [lap size], which are being sent to an emergency shelter in Martin, SD, on behalf of the Sioux Native Americans in that area.  The winters are ferociously cold in SD, and the need for warm shelter, warm clothing, and caring hearts outside of the Pine Ridge Reservation is huge.  Not many weeks ago, I somehow came upon an internet blog written by Sewing For Kids Volunteers, under the parent group of Lakota Friends Circle.  I was immediately drawn in by the challenges facing the residents of the Reservation, and the hearts of many members of the Sioux tribes living there - hearts who are devoting their lives to helping their people.
   Facebook has provided one way for groups to form, in order to send assistance from outside the reservation to these helping hearts and people in need.  Doll clothes and children's clothing are made and/or purchased and sent; layette items for new mothers; blankets and quilts and boots and shoes and school supplies and toiletries and diapers and personal supplies and lap and nap blankets and toys - these are just a small part of the total needs of those living on the Rez.  Money donations help with purchasing propane gas and food and meds and many other survival needs for individuals, schools, and emergency shelters.
   The need is immense.  The opportunities abound for willing hearts and hands outside of the Reservation to help.  Making toys, clothing, blankets, quilts, donating items, giving money - please join in on this journey to make the future better than any challenges of the present facing the amazing Sioux peoples in South Dakota!
   LakotaFriendsCircle.org/donate
   Sewforkids.wordpress.com
   www.facebook.com/groups/SewForKidsVolunteers
   

June 25, 2017

How time flies - it's been almost eighteen months since I last posted on this blog!  In between messages, I've moved twice, and now feel like I'm getting settled in at my small apartment in a small town on the southeast end of Lake Washington.

  I've finally managed to unpack and shelve practically all of my sewing and art supplies, including lots if fabric I didn't remember I had!  This supply includes everything I could ever need for sewing/quilting to feed my new passion:  quilting [and more] for donation!

  The photo above is a patriotic themed quilt that I sold a year ago - but I thought it appropriate for this time of the year!  After this quilt was sent to its new home, I began what has become my wonderful past-time:  sewing and quilting as well as knitting blankets for donation to organizations and individuals in need of  items with which to keep warm and dry.

  This new passion is released in creating lap-size quilts, approximately 45/50" x 60/70".  I donate them to the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle [through a quilt guild], to orphanages around the world [through Quilts Beyond Borders], to Syrian refugees [through Salaam Cultural Museum in Seattle], to families in need via Eastside Baby Corner [in Issaquah, WA], and to the Lakota Sioux nation in South Dakota.  Last summer I sent seven quilts to families who had lost fire-fighters and/or homes due to the horrendous fires in E. WA [via Layers of Hope/Quilting 911].  It just feels plain wonderful to be able to help someone in need through activities that I couldn't love more.

  If anyone reading this blog has a 'quilting habit' like I do, or likes to sew children's clothing, or knit baby blankets and baby clothing items - I can give you all the contacts you could ever need, as recipients for your creations!  Simply send me a communication through this blog - I'll respond with details.

 Happy Independence Day [just around the corner on the calendar]!  

Not Built In A Day

  Late last summer I heard about the opportunity to make quilts for families who were among the fire victims in our state, east of the Cascade Mountains.  This response to devastation and loss was organized by a wonderful quilter who lives south of Olympia, our state capital.  Because I haven't asked her permission yet to include her name and blog links, I can only tell you she has a huge heart and is a tireless worker for those who are in need.

I got out flannels and cottons from my stash, and made several quilts based on a traditional pattern from Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day series of books, to be donated to the families in need through the quilter I mentioned above.  While they weren't 'art' quilts by any definition other than due to their color palette, I trust my quilts warm the hearts of the folks who receive them.
  There are countless opportunities to turn our new quilts into gifts that warm both heart and body.  This New Year of 2016, my resolution is to focus on making additional quilts for donation.  Some of the opportunities [among thousands] include the Ronald McDonald House families who come to Seattle Children's Hospital for healing, Quilts of Valor Foundation, Project Linus, Eastside Baby and Westside Baby, Jubilee Women's Center, Mary's Place, Quilts For Kids, and countless other churches and quilt groups and charity auctions for whom quilts are made and funds are raised to help others in need.
  My challenge for you, Dear Reader, is to pick an organization near and dear to your heart, and make a quilt and send it off this month!  Read websites and/or contact the organization for any requirements they have for donations:  size, washing instructions, removing all pins, quilting spacing [so quilts can stand up to frequent washings], types of fabric, etc.  Then, have a wonderful time creating something from your heart to another's.  And, after you've made one quilt, make another!
    

My Name Is Lucy

Seems like my creativity has slipped into a seasonal mood, following my recent posting of the King of Spring!  This sweet, lovely Leonberger's AKC name is "Early Winters Autumn Leaves" - and her 'call' name is Lucy.  She's one of my grandpuppies, and certainly a photogenic, happy, and loving animal.  This cheery, happy "Leo" loves to play soccer and swim for hours.  Leonberger paws are webbed between their toes, making them an ideal search and rescue animal [particularly water-rescue].  They love their human families with a passion, and are so easy to love back.  They are a large breed German 'mountain dog', created in the 1800s by crossing the Great Pyrenees, Newfoundland, and St. Bernard breeds. 
 
The cotton background is a red and gold sun print of blowing autumn leaves.  I topped that with a smaller ink-jet photo print on organza of Lucy, attached with Misty Fuse.  The background quilting is straight parallel lines, a pattern introduced by Laura and Linda Kemshall of Gr. Britain.  After all the quilting was completed, I overlaid the organza print with a second photo print on cotton that I cut out around Lucy's image.  After 'gluing' it down on top of the identical organza image, I discovered I have a 3-D image that has her practically leaping off the background!  [My daughter takes wonderful photos of both of their Leos; I'll have to create something of their young male, Ellis, in the near future.] 

I outline-quilted around the edges of the leaves - which made them pop up after the close background quilting, rather like trapunto.  The narrow border is a fall-colors plaid-like cotton print that reflected all of the colors in the 'picture.'  Lucy's coat is red and gold and brown, a perfect autumn leaf in her own right.

I'm looking forward to seeing which of the two remaining seasons might pique my next creative mood!